Chapter 3 - Revelations
* It is time, use the Materia now * the voice told Angel. She sighed and turned away from the barrier she had created. She hadn't a clue what to do and the voice in her head was silent, even asking it what she was doing didn't get a response apart from the same command of use the materia. Opening her mind Angel raised the materia and called upon its power. Then without warning the materia in her hand grew warm and emitted a blinding glow, which enveloped her. The history of the Ancients, their ways and their language slammed into her mind. The meaning of what she had seen in the waterfall became clear as the materia showed her exactly what had occurred during the time she had been in suspension. Finally, she understood what she was here to do and how to do it.
Angel called out the command word to activate the magic and she saw the light grow even more blinding. When the light faded she saw the person who she had called back from the dead before her and leaning on her staff slightly Angel extended her hand towards the figure.
Behind them Yuffie exclaimed in shock and surprise " Oh my GAWD . . . . Aeris"
On the altar Aeris smiled at Angel and shook her hand, she was wearing the same dress that she had before she was killed and carried her weapon - the Princess Guard staff at her side. As Aeris heard her name called, she looked round to see all her friends standing at the bottom of the pillars.
"Yuffie? Cloud? Tifa? You're all here? How?" Aeris asked slightly shocked.
"They followed me, I think they thought I meant harm to the planet" Angel told her looking directly at Cloud.
" I'm sorry I didn't tell you all what I had planned before running off" Aeris said walking down towards the group, "I thought you'd all stop me. I knew the only way for Meteor to be stopped was Holy, and for that I had to die"
Angel felt uneasy, she didn't know how, but she felt something evil above her, and she could sense the intent of the evil it had something to do with Aeris as she watched the woman head down to her friends, she only had a second to react.
Cloud eyes narrowed suspiciously at Angel when he saw the staff, which had knocked him out minutes ago, shimmer and return to sword form. He could not believe that his foes' sister had brought back their friend and he was not sure that her intentions were good. His thoughts seemed justified when, in a movement almost to fast for him to follow, Angel pushed Aeris away from the altar and raised her sword. Cloud was about to rush in to help Aeris, but another person had landed behind the two women and Angel's sword prevented the long sword impaling the last Cetra.
Angel backed away as Sephiroth rose from the position he landed in. "Aeris, go to your friends, I'll cover you" she said without taking her eyes off her brother. Sephiroth lunged at Aeris intending to kill but was blocked by his sisters' sword.
On the platform below, Cloud ran over to Aeris when she had climbed down the last pillar. "What the hell is going on" he asked.
Aeris shook her head and turned to watch the battle above "I don't know" she answered " Sephiroth should be dead, you killed him didn't you?"
"Yes, we did" Red replied "Holy and the lifestream came.. but how can he still be alive? Did he get called back as well?"
"Doubtful, Holy can only call back one person at a time, and it must be where the person died" Aeris said as she watched what was going on above them.
Angel defended against her brother, as Sephiroth seemed intent on slicing her in half, Avalanche watched as in horror as they didn't know if Angel could stop him. Then in what seemed to be a slip Angel took the offensive and seemed to gain the upper hand against Sephiroth. Sparks flew from the blades and after a while of hacking at each other, magic started to enter the fight. However no matter what they did the other deflected the magical attacks creating the stalemate again. Both of them seemed to be a match for each other as they knew each other's fighting styles and neither could gain the upper hand. Then Sephiroth jumped off the altar and glided over to where Avalanche were, as he did they all got ready to attack him, as Angel cast ultima. Sephiroth avoided the spell and glared at his sister.
"That was a mistake sis" he said and pointed his sword at Avalanche "Heartless Angel!" he called as he cast his most powerful limit spell, to drain and severely injure the party, only Angel was outside the influence of the spell. However Aeris, seeing Angel signal her, cast her most powerful limit, Great gospel to protect the group as Sephiroth finished his spell.
"Angel, be careful" Aeris called out.
"Don't worry about me Aeris, protect the others" Angel said. She had seen what Sephiroth had done and in her fury cried out "Fury Strike!!" which would unleash her most powerful attack at him. An aura of red light surrounded her, when it had dissipated she ran towards her brother and slashed at him four times. Each strike was powered by her fury.
" Ha, Ha, Ha, that pitiful attack can't hurt me. You may have been my equal in the past but now you are nothing but a weak fool." Sephiroth said as he took the blows without harm. The attack didn't connect as Sephiroth gathered the power of Jenova to him.
* Gather together your inner energy and use the power of Holy to defeat him* The voice told Angel *Defeat him, you must as Guardian of the planet you must use Holy to stop him.*
Angel heard the voice as she parried another attack, *how?* she thought to the voice * and what do you mean by that?* but as always the voice didn't answer her. As she was slightly distracted Sephiroth took the chance and sent Angel flying into the side of the altar. As she got up, she felt her anger rise and without considering the consequences she raise her sword. "That may not have but this attack will" she said in a deadly tone " HOLY STRIKE"
Sephiroth recoiled from his sister as an aura of holy shone from her. Running towards him she slashed out at her brother with all her strength, the power of holy increasing the power of the stroke. Twenty-nine more times she slashed at him and when she finished Sephiroth collapsed on the floor.
"You may have beaten me now dear sister, but I shall return, watch behind you for I'll be there" Sephiroth said as he rose from the ground, and although wounded he managed to fly out of the forgotten capital.
" Holy shit" Cid exclaimed when Sephiroth escaped. He held his spear out in front of him when Angel approached the group, still not willing to trust her.
" What did I just unleash then?" Angel asked Aeris, who was trying hard not to laugh at the look on Clouds' face.
"You used Holy in your attack, that is one of your limits isn't it?" Aeris replied then she smiled "and it wasn't entirely your idea was it?"
" No, I heard a voice telling me to use the Holy materia, and I think that you know what it is, what is it?"
Cloud looked at Cid, all of them knew that Sephiroth could hear a voice, and because she was his sister it stood to reason that she could also be hearing the voice of Jenova.
"You hear Jenova" Cloud said " not surprising really, you.."
* What she's been hearing is me, the voice of this planet * The planet interrupted in all of their minds. A white light enveloped Angel and the voice continued * You have Holy as a weapon young Cetra, for that is what you now are. As a Guardian of the planet, I have given you a unique skill, you have the ability to use magic without materia. Touching the materia will give you the knowledge of using that type of magic. Although you are suspicious, Angel has been acting on my commands, she is free of Jenova's influence*
The light faded showing the changes that the Planet had done to Angel. The Soldier uniform she was dressed in was green, blue and white instead of the black it used to be, and she had a new sword. In her hand there were now two white materia orbs. Cloud noticed that the sword looked to be made out of the same substance that his Ultima weapon was made of. He also noticed that there was a rune, in gold along the hilt.
"What does this mean Aeris?" Angel asked Aeris in confusion. Even after hearing the planet she wasn't sure what had just happened.
We both carry Holy, like me you are a Cetra and we have to save the planet from whatever Sephiroth has planned for it next." she replied, taking one of the orbs from Angel "That rune on your sword is the name of your sword. Planets' fury!"
Whilst they were talking, Avalanche discussed what they had just seen and heard, still in a mild state of disbelief.
"Sephiroths sister is on our side?!!?!" Cid exclaimed in shock.
"She did bring Aeris back and fought Sephiroth, Cid" Tifa replied to him "And the Planet vouches for her"
"$£&*(*%, and an Ancient" Barret said looking towards Angel.
"Didn't Sephiroth think he was an Ancient and go nuts?" Yuffie asked.
Aeris and Angel finished talking and rejoined the group. Angel walked up to Cloud.
"I would like to join Avalanche, to help stop my brother" She said and waited for Cloud's answer.
" I still don't believe it" Cloud said with some scepticism looking at Angel. "What if it's a trick, like what Sephiroth did to me in the Crater"
* The reason I freed Angel from cryogenic suspension was so then she could resurrect Aeris. * The Planet said, with a hint of annoyance
* She is the only one powerful enough to do this. Sephiroth did not die when you fought him in the North crater and neither did Jenova. Both she and Aeris are needed to stop them and so are you.*
In the silence that followed,Vincent walked towards Angel " I need to ask you, why did you try to kill Hojo ?"
"I didn't, not exactly. I found out about the Jenova project and what Hojo had done to me and my brother as well as our Mother." Angel replied sadly "I wasn't paying attention and Hojo caught me reading the files, I confronted him with what I knew and tried to get past him to tell Sephiroth. Next thing I remember is waking up in the basement of Shin-ra HQ."
"Ouch, nasty" Yuffie commented.
" There is something you must know, Hojo is . . ." Red started,
" My father, yes I know and Lucrecia is my true mother" she interrupted.
Reeve sat back on his chair and looked out of the window at what once was the small village of Kalm. After Midgar had been destroyed most of the survivors had come here, now those who hadn't moved on to Junon or Wutai had built more houses making Kalm into a small city. Reeve wondered how the others were doing in tracking down Sephiroths sister and if they had succeeded in stopping her. He was deep in thought when the phone rang. "Reeve, this is Dio, there's an emergency"
"What emergency, I can't imagine anything wrong at the Gold Saucer" Reeve said getting worried
"It's not here at the Saucer. Gongaga is burning, you can see the smoke and the glare from the fire from here" came the reply.
" I'll get on it" he said slamming down the phone and picking up the PHS. Punching in Clouds' number he yelled through to his secretary "Pauline, get the Turks to investigate Gongaga, tell them I'll join them soon with reinforcements"
As the group headed out of the City after introducing themselves to Angel, Aeris decided to approach Tifa with something she had on her mind. Waiting for the others to go on ahead she caught hold of Tifa's arm.
"I need to talk to you Tifa" Aeris said.
"What about?"
"When's the wedding?" Aeris asked a blushing Tifa .
" How did you find out about that?" Tifa replied slightly shocked that Aeris could find out so rapidly and that Aeris though it was important to talk to her about it "Did the others tell you?"
"No they didn't, you and Cloud were destined for each other, Cait Sith got it wrong in the Temple, I was never meant to be with him." Aeris told her with a smile "The reason I flirted with him was because I knew what I might have to do to stop the Planet being hurt. I never meant to make you jealous or hurt your feelings."
"It's alright Aeris, I forgive you" Tifa said and hugged her "I guess I wasn't to understanding, but I have to say you're like a sister to me now after all that we went through with the Don and the temple"
"That's good, I have something to ask though, Can I be your bridesmaid at the wedding?"
" Of course you can. Although we haven't actually got that far in planning yet" Tifa said startled at Aeris' request.
"How come?" Aeris asked as they exited the forgotten City.
"Because someone over there is slightly scared of rushing it" Tifa replied with a laugh.
Cloud managed to overhear the last bit of the conversation and went red with embarrassment. Cid laughed when he saw this "Cloud you look like a beetroot!"
"Hey! It's just something the girls said" Cloud replied defensively
"You shouldn't be eavesdropping then!" Yuffie called back to him.
At the front of the group the rest were talking to Angel.
"Why didn't you tell us that the planet was talking to you?" Red asked "If you had, we wouldn't have tried to harm you"
"Because I didn't know at the time. I'm as shocked as you are Nanaki" Angel replied.
"Call me Red, Angel.. it's easier that way" Red replied.
Cid lit up another cigarette "Well finding out you were on our side was a shock, but finding out that $%^& Sephiroth is still around is worse"
"Cid! Remember who you're talking to" Vincent said with a sharp tone in his voice.
"It's alright, Sephiroth is in the wrong, it doesn't matter that he is my brother. I'll do what I must to stop him"
"Because you're a Guardian of the planet, what is one of those?" Yuffie asked
" I'm confused" Barret stated " If she's a Guardian of the planet, what's Aeris then?" pointing to Angel and scratching his head.
Angel looked at Barret shaking her head " I don't know, Barret, Yuffie, I don't have much of a clue myself. I know some things about the Cetra, but not much."
" I'm a protector of the planet, and before any of you ask what the difference is, the protectors don't usually fight, we're the peaceful ones. The guardians are the warriors and the ones who do battle to keep the planet safe and they also keep the protectors safe." Aeris explained. "Although I've become more of a guardian than a protector"
"That clears everything up" Yuffie commented sarcastically "Can't you ever have things simple?"
Everyone laughed at Yuffies complaint.
"Well it seems that I was wrong, welcome to Avalanche Angel. If you still want to join" Cloud extended his hand to her.
Angel shook Cloud's hand "Of course I want to be part of Avalanche."
At that moment Clouds' PHS rang
"Reeve what is it?" Cloud asked.
"Pick me up outside of Midgar, Gongaga is burning!"